2010 IIAC Championships – Loras College’s Athletic Wellness Center – Loras campus – Dubuque – Wartburg (20-15), the third seed, faces sixth-seeded Luther at 4:30 p.m. in one of two quarterfinals – The winner meets second-seeded Cornell at 7:30 p.m.
For the fans: Loras’ student media group provides audio commentary, video interviews and more from all matches this weekend. The live audio can be accessed at the scrolling schedule section of www.go-knights.net, the Internet home of Wartburg athletics.
Knights notes: It’s the third time around for the Knights and Norse this year. Wartburg owns a pair of four-set wins prior. … Coach Jennifer Walker’s program is 4-4 in it last three league tournament appearances. The 2009 squad reached the finals. … Wartburg’s last conference tournament title occurred in 2003. … The Knights closed the regular season with a five-set loss at Central Nov. 2. They got out of the gate quickly winning the first two sets before the Dutch rallied back. … Several players had big nights inside Kuyper Gymnasium. The offense was led by the duo of sophomore outside hitter Britlyn Sieck of West Union and junior middle hitter Kamille Van Natta of Readlyn. Sieck hammered 18 kills, a single-season match high and 24th time she’s been in double digits, while Van Natta added 17 kills, also a single-season match high and the 15th time she’s been in double figures. Sophomore middle hitter Monique Davisson of Cedar Rapids chipped in a .400 attack percentage (six kills and no errors in 15 attempts) and four block assists. Defensively, at the net, Sieck ended with a solo block and two block assists and freshman middle hitter Kelly Niemann of Fredericksburg added a solo block and three assists to go along with Davisson’s effort. Freshman defensive specialist/libero Marissa Shinstine of Tripoli topped the digs list with 22. … Walker’s team enters the tournament ranked first in team attack percentage (.220) and second in service aces per set (1.54). Individually, Niemann is eighth in attack percentage (.257), Sieck is seventh in kills (3.09 per set), and Van Natta is sixth in service aces (.32 per set). … Sieck can go over the 400-kill mark for the second time in as many seasons this weekend. She had 469 a year ago.
